T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

Nov. 5.]

GUNPOWDER PLOT.

The 5th of November is not observed by the populace with nearly so much festive diversion as in former times. Originally, the burning of Guy Fawkes in effigy was a ceremony much in vogue, especially among the lower classes, but it is now confined chiefly to school-boys, and even with them it is not so popular as in days gone by. Formerly, the burning of “a good guy” was a scene of uproar perhaps unknown to the present day. The bonfire, for example, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields was conducted on a very grand scale. It was made at the Great Queen Street corner, immediately opposite Newcastle House. Fuel came all day long in carts properly guarded against surprise. Old people have recollected when upwards of two hundred cart-loads were brought to make and feed this bonfire, and more than thirty “guys” were burnt upon gibbets between eight and twelve o’clock at night.[83]

[83] The following extract is from the Evening Standard (February 5th, 1875):—“This morning at ten o’clock the Yeomen of the Guard (Beefeaters) made their usual search before the meeting of Parliament for any barrels of gunpowder that might be stowed away in the vaults under the Houses of Parliament.”

The butchers of Clare Market, also, were accustomed to celebrate this anniversary in a somewhat peculiar style; one of their body, personating Guy Fawkes, being seated in a cart, with a prayer-book in his hand, and a priest, executioner, &c., attending, was drawn through the streets, as if going to the place of execution; while a select party, with marrow-bones and cleavers, led the way, and others solicited money from the inhabitants and spectators. The sums thus obtained were spent at night in jollity and carousing.—Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of London, 1847, p. 39.

The following time-honoured rhyme is still sung, and varies in different parts of the country:

“Pray remember
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
For I know no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Hollo boys! Hollo boys! Hurrah.”

In Poor Robin’s Almanack for the year 1677 is the following:

“Now boys with
Squibs and crackers play,
And bonfire’s blaze
Turns night to-day.”

In some parts of the north of England the following song is sung:

“Happy was the man,
And happy was the day,
That caught Guy
Going to his play,
With a dark lanthorn
And a brimstone match
Ready for the prime to touch.

As I was going through the dark entry
I spied the devil.
Stand back! Stand back!
Queen Mary’s daughter.
Put your hand in your pocket,
And give us some money
To kindle our bonfire. Hurrah.”

Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 398.

Derbyshire.

The rhyme formerly sung in many parts of this county is as below:

Long Ago, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.

Lincolnshire.

In this county the following quaint rhyme was sung on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot:

Middlesex.

It is stated in the register at Harlington, under the date of 1683, that half an acre of land was given by some person, whose name has been forgotten, for the benefit of the bell-ringers of the parish, to provide them with a leg of pork for ringing on the 5th of November. It is called the Pork Acre. The ground is let by the parish officers at 50s. a year, which is paid by them to the bell-ringer.—Edwards, Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 27.

Northamptonshire.

The following is the rhyme formerly sung in this county:

Nottinghamshire.

At Clifton the following rhyme is sung:

Oxfordshire.

This is the Oxfordshire song chanted by the boys when collecting sticks for the bonfire, and it is considered quite lawful to appropriate any old wood they can lay their hands on after the recitation of these lines. If it happen that a crusty chuff prevents them, the threatening finale is too often fulfilled. The operation is called going a-progging. In some places they shout, previously to the burning of the effigy of Guy Fawkes,

Formerly, it was the custom for the undergraduates of Pembroke College, Oxford, to make verses on the 5th of November, and to have two copies of them, one to present to the master, the other to stick up in the Hall, and there to remain till a speech on this occasion was spoken before supper.—Pointer, Oxoniensis Academia, 1749, p. 109.

Sussex.

At Lewes on the 5th of November in each year, a great torchlight procession, composed of men dressed up in fantastic garbs, and with blackened faces, and dragging blazing tar barrels after them, parade the high street, while an enormous bonfire is lighted, into which, when at its highest, various effigies are cast. The day’s festivities not unfrequently terminate in a general uproar and scene of confusion. See Lewes Times, November 13th, 1856.

Westmoreland.

The following doggerel is sung in this county:

Wiltshire.

At Marlborough the rustics have the following peculiar custom at their bonfires. They form themselves into a ring of some dozen or more round the bonfire, and follow each other round it, holding thick club-sticks over their shoulders; while a few others, standing at distances outside this moving ring with the same sort of sticks, beat those which the men hold over their shoulders, as they pass round in succession, all shouting and screaming loudly. This might last half an hour at a time, and be continued at intervals till the fire died out.—N. & Q. 1st. S. vol. v. p. 355.

At Purton the boys, for several weeks before the 5th of November, used to go from house to house begging faggots for the bonfire, in the middle of which was burnt the effigy of Guy Fawkes. The following rhyme was sung on the occasion:

Yorkshire.

A very old custom prevails in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of preparing, against the anniversary of Gunpowder Plot, a kind of oatmeal gingerbread, if it may be so called, and of religiously partaking of the same on this day and subsequently. The local name of the delicacy is Parkin and it is usually seen in the form of massive loaves, substantial cakes, or bannocks.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. iv. p. 368.

Blount, in his Fragmenta Antiquitatis (Beckwith, 1815, p. 565), gives the following account of a custom observed at Doncaster. He says at this place on the 5th November, yearly, whether it happens on a Sunday, or any other day in the week, the town waits play for some time on the top of the church steeple, at the time when the congregation are coming out of the church from morning service, the tune of “God Save the King.” This has been done for four-score years at least, and very possibly ever since the 5th of November has been a festival, except that formerly the tune played was “Britons, strike home.” The waits always receive from the churchwardens sixpence a-piece for this service.